The Lowdown – 2nd Annual Children’s Festival

While we make our way through the transitions of our lives one of the common threads that I see in many people is a subconscious desire to return to the comfort of our inner child. Easy to see when you consider how many of us give ourselves daily to our careers and ultimately our responsibilities. We all work hard, give our best and by Friday the intent is often some sort of escape to country life, the back yard, workshops or gardens. It’s really all about comforting our own spirit in whichever way makes us happiest and sometimes taking a page from our kids is the only way to go. We can do just that this coming June 1st and 2nd when the 2nd Annual Airdrie Children’s Festival kicks off at our very own Nose Creek Park!

I caught up with Pete Lewis recently who proudly shared that last years goal to grow to a second day and this year that goal was achieved but not without a lot of hard work.

“3500 people came through last year and the biggest piece of feedback was there wasn’t enough time to see everything so we took that to heart. With two days now we expect to see upwards of 5000 visitors and we hope that we’ve taken this year to new heights”.

The long-term goal of the festival is to be five days and reach International status however Pete shared that the second day is a lot to bite off and as he put it, “we’ll have to see where we grow from here”.

Thanks again to an outstanding cast of sponsors, this year’s festival is essentially cost free aside from the food trucks. From the presenting sponsor Rogers who stepped up big again to the list of local sponsors including The Shilo Storey Team, Tempco Drilling, Vitreous Glass, Airdrie Alarm, Hotel Clique, Switchback Creative, Martin’s Pest Control, Techmation Control, Hassett and Reid, Lioness Club, Mattamy Homes and so many more. You can see a full list of the festival supporters with links at airdriechildrensfest.com/about/

This year promises to be a lot of fun and a lot to take in. They’ve added workshops which you can register for now. There are 10 which are on location of those who are offering. All Fitts Auto will be running, “You might be a mechanic if” and Iron Horse Park is running, “All aboard that’s going aboard” which is obviously about trains! I love both cars and trains and I was hoping to sign up for each of these however, you have to be “young enough”. Mason mentioned I might be too big for the train. This may be true especially if they allowed me to participate in the cupcake eating contest which truth be told I have inquired about. Again, not “young enough”!

The weekend will feature some fun and entertaining headline acts including Bob’s and Lolo! Peter Puffin will be there too along with Smilin’ Rylin from Saskatoon. There will be performance from the Calgary Children’s Choir who are a touring choir that will be heading over to Europe after visiting us here in Airdrie. There will be “Inspiration Stations” including Long & McQuade, the Calgary Zoo and also the Glenbow Museum! I am personally hoping they present the Drummer they had last year!

The fun runs both days of the weekend from 10 – 4 and the goal really is to present a high-level festival that challenges kids to think outside the box. For more information visit airdriechildrensfest.com where there is contact information if you should like to volunteer. There you will find sign up details for the workshops and a full list of events, performers and workshops.

Thanks again for reading The Lowdown. Your readership is greatly appreciated.